wishful thinking
nounDefinition of wishful thinking
: the attribution of reality to what one wishes to be true or the tenuous justification of what one wants to believe
Examples of wishful thinking in a Sentence
The idea that the enemy will immediately surrender is nothing more than wishful thinking.
Recent Examples on the Web
The wishful thinking usually starts when the Southeast San Diego resident — a bronze medal winner in the 200-meter run in 1948 — hears another tale about the financial opportunities open to today’s Olympic contenders. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Recalling 3 San Diego Olympians in their own words," 28 July 2019 Biden immediately went on the offense, blasting it as wishful thinking that wasn’t up-front about its costs. — Casey Tolan, The Mercury News, "Kamala Harris on defense at Democratic debate as rivals hit her over health care, criminal justice," 31 July 2019 Avoid the tendency to try and read between the lines or entertain wishful thinking when someone is just being honest with you. — Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive.com, "Horoscope for June 26, 2019: Happy birthday Chris O’Donnell; Cancer, roll with the punches," 26 June 2019 The choice is ultimately not between an Anglophone Europe and a truly polyglot Europe but between wishful thinking and realism. — The Economist, "Brexit is the ideal moment to make English the EU’s common language," 15 June 2019 Financial documents obtained by The Baltimore Sun and interviews with three of the symphony’s key decision-makers reveal that the organization’s efforts were predicated on the thinnest of margins — and wishful thinking. — Mary Carole Mccauley, baltimoresun.com, "A 'going concern'? BSO predicated financial fate on thinnest of margins, wishful thinking," 14 June 2019 Until this moment, Johnson’s life and career have been a kind of monument to wishful thinking—of ridiculous expectations shockingly fulfilled. — Sam Knight, The New Yorker, "The Empty Promise of Boris Johnson," 13 June 2019 Also, the idea that Williamson would relinquish the chance to start his NBA career in 2019 and instead return to college and risk injury struck many observers as farfetched and perhaps wishful thinking on the part of certain teams’ fan bases. — Michael Mccann, SI.com, "The Significance of Zion Williamson’s Lawsuit Against Prime Sports Marketing," 13 June 2019 Back then, Gorga singing about feeling the pressures of being in the spotlight seemed like wishful thinking. — Dave Quinn, PEOPLE.com, "The Definitive Ranking of Every Single Real Housewives Song," 5 Aug. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wishful thinking.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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